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Philip Matyszak
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Sparta: Rise of a Warrior Nation Paperback – December 22, 2021

by Philip Matyszak (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 399 ratings
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Their contemporaries were fascinated by the Spartans and we still are. They are portrayed as the stereotypical macho heroes: noble, laconic, totally fearless, and impervious to discomfort and pain. What makes the study of Sparta so interesting is that to a large extent the Spartans lived up to this image.

Ancient Sparta, however, was a city of contrasts. We might admire their physical toughness and heroism in adversity but Spartans also systematically abused their children. They gave rights to citizen women that were unmatched in Europe until the modern era, meanwhile subjecting their conquered subject peoples to a murderous reign of terror. Though idealized by the Athenian contemporaries of Socrates, Sparta was almost devoid of intellectual achievement.

Philip Matyszak explores two themes: how Sparta came to be the unique society it was, and the rise of the city from a Peloponnesian village to the military superpower of Greece. But above all, his focus is on the Spartan hoplite, the archetypal Greek warrior who was respected and feared throughout Greece in his own day, and who has since become a legend. The reader is shown the man behind the myth; who he was, who he thought he was, and the environment which produced him.
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  1. Print length
    208 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Pen and Sword Military
  4. Publication date
    December 22, 2021
  5. Dimensions
    6.1 x 0.7 x 9.1 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1399014560
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1399014564
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Essential contribution to the literature of the ancient world
Books Monthly

“Matyszak offers a goodly number of interesting insights, often in amusing fashion (e.g., Lycurgus’s rules on coins, centuries before they were invented, suggesting some tinkering with the historical record by later Spartans). While written primarily for the layman, Sparta will prove useful reading for anyone with an interest in Ancient Greece.”
The NYMAS Review Winter 2018

About the Author

PHILIP ‘MATY’ MATYSZAK holds a doctorate in Ancient History from St John’s College, Oxford University, and has been studying, teaching and writing on the subject for over twenty years. He specializes in the history of Classical Greece and of the Late Republic and Early Imperial periods of Rome. Maty has personal military experience both as a conscript in Rhodesia and with the Territorial Army in Britain. These days he splits his time between writing in his home in Canada’s Monashee Mountains and providing e-learning courses for Cambridge University’s Institute of Continuing Education.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pen and Sword Military (December 22, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1399014560
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1399014564
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 0.7 x 9.1 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 399 ratings

About the author

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Philip Matyszak

Philip Matyszak

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Ancient history has been my job and my hobby for the last 30 years. I spend a lot of time immersed in the world of antiquity, and whenever I come up a story or an idea that I would like to share with the rest of the world I write about it.

At other times, when there's some information I want, and there's no readily available book that offers this, I write that book too. Some of my students (I also teach) have never before been introduced to the ancient world. It's a fascinating place, as different as any alternative universe, but real. I always get excited by exploring there, and there's always something new to find.

At various times, I've lived on three different continents, and spent several wonderful years in Italy living right on top of the material I was writing about. I'm now in Canada with a home deep in the mountains of British Columbia, but there's a part of me that is still in Rome lurking in the shadows of the ancient forum.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
399 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Lucinda
5.0 out of 5 stars well-written, interesting, informative
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2021
Verified Purchase
Very well-written. I’m not a military afficionado, but I read the battle details because the author made them interesting.

Much more than just the battles – culture, causes of the battles, etc.

Highly recommended
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Don
4.0 out of 5 stars A quick review of a complicated and contentious history
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2021
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I do not believe that 178 pages makes a book. This is an extended article that delivers a brief history of a contentious and stiff-necked people that reaped what they sowed over centuries. Still, it is a poignant history observing how the city states of Greece squandered their considerable wealth and resources fighting each other over centuries while nation states developed around them and over them. If just Athens, Thebes and Sparta could have gotten along with each other, celebrating their differences in a common Union, they could have formed the core of a lasting nation. Some good lessons here for us today about how needless wars squander the wealth of a country. Also, how schooling your people in constant adversity and conflict prepares them for nothing else. And diversity can strengthen a union. But even enlightened Athens in this period did not do much better as they also missed by a considerable degree the ability to get along and even thrive with their neighbors, never accomplishing things they could not as a single, particularly gifted but isolated people. War and conquest were not the answer but the problem. The city states of Greece had hundreds of years to figure this out but tragically never did. So, a good historical review of this period to make that so apparent and relevant to our time. There is little in ancient Sparta to emulate but much to learn from. Thank you.
17 people found this helpful
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montel8
5.0 out of 5 stars Well Written History
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2021
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I’ve always enjoyed Greek history but this is the first book I’ve read on Sparta. This is a well written layperson’s level overview of Spartan history that doesn’t take the subject to seriously or assume, as some history books do, that the reader already knows the subject. Looking for other books by this author.
4 people found this helpful
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chin yin keat
4.0 out of 5 stars Spartan history in a book
Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2022
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Good, short and factual history narrative of spartan nation. Make the readers have clearer picture of early spartan formation. Worth reading
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J. S. Share
3.0 out of 5 stars Remember the spartans
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2023
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Well researched but too much detail on battle topography and not enough on their unique culture and what led to its demise.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking and highly readable
Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2019
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I highly recommend this book. It presents appropriate detail while providing context on how Sparta fit within the context of the broader Greek world and the upcoming powers of Macedon and Rome. I found it an pleasant read which was organized and easy to follow.
6 people found this helpful
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Joshua Kahan
5.0 out of 5 stars good read
Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2022
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Well written and informative. Prompt delivery
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Vulpine from Innsmouth
4.0 out of 5 stars "Our arrows will blot out the sun." "Thus we will fight in the shade."
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2017
Verified Purchase
I always enjoy Matyszak writing history. This is a good history from prehistoric Peloponnese to the end of Persian Wars. I wish he'd covered the post Peloponnesian Wars, Sparta dealing with Alexander the Great and Rome and such, but there would have to be a huge section on the wars with Athens.

Additional: he does cover the rest of Spartan history in a second book. So yay!
17 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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G. Côté
5.0 out of 5 stars Recent (2017) realistic review
Reviewed in Canada on May 5, 2021
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Review of ancient and new reports, weighing fake news and exaggerations, giving a most likely interpretation of what really happened and why at Thermopylae and Salamis. Very interesting history.
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W. Cassidy
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 3, 2019
Verified Purchase
I understood this book much more than Thucydides own masterwork, penmanship I think they call it, I got to understand a lot better the character of the main players in this sorry saga and why things panned out the way they did.
Highly Recommended.
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Guido
5.0 out of 5 stars Klasse!
Reviewed in Germany on June 2, 2019
Verified Purchase
Eine spannende Erzählung des Aufstiegs und des Sturzes der Spartaner.
Der Autor erzählt unglaublich fesselnd. Die zwei Bände fliegen nur so dahin.
An jedem Punkt macht der Autor deutlich, was vielleicht Mythos und was möglicherweise wahr ist.
Das einzige was ich total bedauere: warum sind diese beiden Bände nicht übersetzt worden?
Es gibt heute, in der aktuellen politischen Situation, kaum etwas hilfreicheres für alle die dem Mythos nachtrauern
Ich hab beide Bände verschlungen!
obwohl ich ständig den Übersetzer heranziehen musste;
denn der Autor hat wirklich ein elaboriertes Englisch (Cambridge Prof)
Also übersetzt die beiden Bücher bitte, sonst mach ich es
- und das ist bei meinem Englisch eine echte Drohung :-)
3 people found this helpful
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anon
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, he writes good entertaining history
Reviewed in Canada on February 23, 2021
Verified Purchase
Well written, and very informative. I specifically bought this edition for the original cover, as the later edition doesnt look as cool.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars the beginning
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 8, 2018
Verified Purchase
Can't really comment, bought for Christmas present for a "Spartan warrior"
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